>> welcome to al jazeera i'm jeght. john siegenthaler. here are top stories. president obama continues to press for action against syria at the g-20 summit. he said the world cannot stand idly by. he's expected to make his case on an address to the nation tuesday night. he's expected to return to the white house later on this evening. security concerns over the pending military concern in syria, nonessential staffers and military citizens were asked to leave the capital of beirut. the august jobs report is in.

the u.s. added 169,000 in august and the unemployment rate dropped to 7.3 pers. that's partially lower because fewer people were looking for work. north korea's news agency has said that dennis rodman has met with kim jong un, again. no word whether rodman is trying to negotiate the release of kenneth bae. joie chen is next. remember you can catch all your news at aljazeera.com. i'm john siegenthaler, i'll see you at 11:00 eastern. >> on america tonight: the president heads home. after making his case with world leaders for a strike on syria. but with time running out, finds himself facing stiff and growing

resistance. a billionaire, a boat, and the city by the bay. a challenge on the high seas and controversy at the america's cup. and a view from the top. the extraordinary courage and heart-stopping steps of a native community balancing tradition with its future. hello and welcome to america tonight, i'm joie chen. president obama races home tonight after what is shaping to a down to the wire approach for his strike on syria. as the clock ticks down to the

case on capitol hill, president obama makes his case directly to the american people. america tonight correspondent sheila macvicar, real toe to toe with syria's strong supporter, sheila. a one on one with vladimir putin. putin really is the winner leer. not only did he -- not only did he find that peerns who might otherwise be allies of the united states were insistent that there has to be a u.n. resolution for any kind of military intervention, he also found i think that his views held sway. syria was on the table, last night, dinner table conversation, they talked about chemical weapons use. the room unanimously agreed that chemical weapons had been used. there was no agreement though on

who was responsible for them. and there was further this very strong argument about going to the u.n. which the president addressed today before he left. >> right so this is really the challenge for the president to try to find some other international support. and he has not gotten to the -- he has not gotten to the point now of reaching out to additional support from international players beyond the french? >> no, that's very clear. the french obviously president hollande was in russia as well. he took a beating from the eu, clearly said you must wait for a u.n. resolution. at home 64% are opposed and when it came down to it today president hollande took the opportunity to step back. >> we are now going to wait for the decision of the congress of the american senate, the chamber of the representatives and then the report by the inspectors and once we have looked at these elements i will make a decision. >> so make a decision again,

waiting to see what congress does and waiting to see what the inspector's report says. it's two to three weeks joie before that report will be ready. >> so the president does face a more immediate concern which is looking to next week. there is the expectation that at least a first vote might be taken on one of the resolution proposals one of the drafts out there now. >> we think that the senate votes on wednesday. president obama will speak to the nation on tuesday night. we think from the oval office, thinking the speech will be of considerable note, he hasn't used that forum too much. and then the vote will be a little bit close to call. president obama himself referred to trying to get congressional support as heavy lifting. >> heavy lifting indeed, the early polling has shown that the american people are not convinced that he has made that case. i want to refer to a picture we saw in the new york times this

morning, very, very disturbing images from syria and this makes it difficult as well. >> this is a picture that comes from it's a screen grab from a video that the new york times got ahold of yesterday, it shows rebels executing syrian soldiers. horrible things happen in the civil war but in terms of lawmakers and how they are making their decisions. this is playing into the questions of who are american allies on the ground? are there any good guys? are there any good options? and increasingly for many lawmakers, the answer seems to be no. the latest tally in the house, washington post tal 80 we looked at last night, the nos and leaning no, undecided 184 yes, 25. the magic number here is 217. and if things stay the way they are right now, that resolution fails. and then of course a whole new

set of decisions need to be made. >> what do you do if the hill says no. appreciate that sheila macvicar for us. coming up on tuesday this program will bring you special coverage of both the president's address to the people on his plans for syria and an opportunity for america to be heard. we'll host a live town hall meeting with key figures from capitol hill, military and what actions will mean to us. we'll take questions from our online audience. tuesday, 9:00 eastern in al jazeera america. who we are and who we want to be? for native people, identities are often arbitrary and disputed. a tribe which could lose one of every six members in what is considered a paper genocide.

>> adelina parker says she feels like a refugee. being told by their tribal council they don't belong. >> it makes me feel really sad. that there is such a strong division in our tribe. and that it cuts worse that a sword. >> she and more than 300 others, all descendants of this person, has called themselves nooksacks for years. there's a problem. for some reason annie george doesn't appear on one of the key documents used to define who is in the tribe and who isn't. >> never showed up on the 1942 census. >> disenrollment has a practical

price. adelina and others would lose fishing and hunting rights, adelina her house is safe but that's not the case, her other family members who do live in tribal housing. those involved say the disenfranchisement goes back a long way. >> back in '96 they tried to disenroll us once, trying to do it again. >> they tried it against this family here. i don't like it. >> not a nooksack problem. it's just a problem that many tribes have. >> professor robert anderson runs the native american law center. he says disenrollment litigation last exploded over the last 15 years with cases in at least 50 different tribes. those cases are often connected to casinos and a bigger slice of

the tribal gambling pie. that doesn't seem the case with the nooksacks. tribal courts have the final say, the federal government has no jurisdiction. >> tribes are accused of being vindictive. on the other hand the tribe says hey we have a continuing obligation to review our membership. >> for adellina parker this is a fight for identity and the future. >> what are the grandchildren and the children going osay to us elders? did we not fight hard enough? >> the tribal council is definitely still fighting. fighting to eliminate nearly 1/6 of the nooksack nation. >> and that was allen schauffler reporting. when we continue, tal tales, tracing the story of the sky dancers.

>> now we look up to a dizzying height and some daz lipg men at work. the men of the mohawk nation are famed at their courage at tree top level and higher up than that. mohawk ironworkers have been the

strength on some of the taller skyscrapers in new york city. their story is the focus of a new documentary called sky dancer. >> there's this myth out that mohawks are feerlz fearless, we can walk anything. they can walk around there like they're on a sidewalk. mohawks don't get scared. i said that's a myth because this one does get scared. connectors are the first one to

touch the steal, to connect them to erect them and to set the beams. so now i'll give you a bird's eye view of what it looks like when you're walking out. you got to have the guts for it. it's not just for anybody. so it's almost like a special breed. i don't think any mohawk that comes to new york city feels like he's at home. a lot of ironworkers aren't comfortable anywhere unless they're 40 stories up in the air because that's what they're accustomed to.

once you're in the air especially when you're connecting, everything is in the open, i guess from an eagle's perspective. i'm from the mohawk reservation. it's kind of secluded, we're six hours into up state new york and canada on the upside of the adirondack mountains. [ chants ] >> earlier here i spoke with film maker katia essen about her role in bringing the story of mohawk ironworkers to the screen. >> how did you become interested in the story of these ironworkers? >> i have always had a facilitate nation with the myth of the fearless mohawk ironworker. and i think we all know that famous picture where they photograph where they sit on the

beam and have lunch and then shortly after 9/11 i read a newspaper article that talked about among the first people who rushed to help at ground zero were mohawk from the reservation. and i wanted to find out who these men are and that's how the journey began. >> the images are incredible. you see them dhoing east incredible thing, walking on the sky, dancing on the sky as you tell it on the film but how did you get those tremendous images? >> especially the pov, point of view of feet on the beam is impressive. i wish i could stay credit for it but they were filmed by our main character, jerry summer cloud himself, he films himself crazily walking the beam. some of the shots my camera woman and myself were on a safe

roof close to them. we tried to get access, no we're not scared we can walk the beam but they wouldn't let us. >> how long did it take for you to put this whole project together? >> altogether it took me five years to make this film. and the longest time i took from idea to finding the first ironworkers, and then i'm normally used to when i approach people and i say hey i want to make a film about you that they say great. but it took me three years of really heavy-duty convincing and making friends and gaining access and gaining trust on the reservation and in this community before i ever, three years before i ever turned on the camera. >> so do you have the sense that there's still a lot of resistance to the sort of outside view of their world? >> absolutely. there was -- you know over and over that's what i heard. it's always the same thing, we have been misrepresented by the media for so long and it's still happening that we don't trust

any outsider with a camera. >> sky dancer airs sunday night right here on al jazeera america at 9:00 p.m. eastern. coming up we head to the america's cup but is the prestigious sailing competition sailing into controversy?

>> finally tonight, billionaires speed and a cheating scandal. we're talking about the america's cup. the most press teeshz sailing race takes -- prestigious sailing race is taking place in san francisco. and it's been all but noncontroversial. >> it's been marked by imagination, risk, and financial excess. in fact, the site was chosen by one of the world's most successful tech moguls, billion air larry elison. he got to pick this year's

location. a big selling point was the city's enclosed harbor. in years past, the races were held miles off shore. but spectators can watch, and good afternoon newsom welcomed it with open arms. >> he gave larry ellison the key to the city. it was like a big deal. >> joe garifoli is a reporter for san francisco chronicle. >> for years san francisco's tried to host the olympics, it wanted to host the super bowl, and so they already had the infrastructure to bid for a major event. and so when they got the america's cup there was like okay, this could bring in millions of dollars to the city. >> the city's board of supervisors voted unanimously to

bring the cup to san francisco and the city rebuilt its waterfront make it happen. ellison not only got to choose the location, but the rules for the construction of the boats. for that he went to russell koutes. he announced he and ellison would revolutionize. >> we need to have the coolest fastest boats in the world. >> now three years layered, oracle is facing new zealand, sailing a craft more in common with an airplane than a boat. >> the first time we went out with these boats it was like wow. >> shannon is a sailor on the crew. there are no motors on board. at 32, he's one of the oldest

members of the crew. but he says sailing these boats is an entirely new experience. >> on these things we're sitting you know, at you know high 30s, 40 knots in the bay and meters from the shoreline. the bay's a very small space. it's unlike anything we'd ever done before. >> the boats are 13 stories tall and they literally fly around san francisco bay. riding on hydrofoils submerged wings that lift them clear out of the water at speeds of nearly 50 miles an hour. the sheer spectacle is part of oracle's strategy. win races but also win new fans. right now, sailing has such a small audience that the america's cup is actually paying nbc to broadcast it, not the other way around. >> you know a lot of people thought that we needed to make it more exciting, both for the sailors and for the peach watching it and i think

that's -- people watching it and i think that's what these both are all about. sheer pleasure at a very rapid pace. >> the boat he designed is so big and so fragile it has to be taken inside every night for maintenance then hauled back out again the next morning. >> this isn't like backing a boat up to your local launch. it takes 30 people and a 200 foot crane about an hour to get this thing into the water. the sailors themselves have to be in top condition. roman is spoblg for moving the sail wing. it is a job that requires sailing strength and stamina. >> each guy has one position and he has to weigh x amount and he goes out for one or two snaps but he's not physical for six hours all day, day in day out. >> it's also dangerous work. there have been three major crashes in this competition.

the first was in june 2011. russell kutes was on board. >> frankly it shouldn't have happened. if you make a mistake you pay the price. >> then last october oracle's skipper rounded a turn too sharply and the boat pitch poled, turning end for end. kirby was on board at time. >> no one like us had cap sized like that. >> the boat makes a pitch pole. >> everyone got off the boat just diving. >> a big setback for the crew. >> you're wearing safety equipment. >> we wear these impact vests that are flotation devices and have spare air. gives you 30 seconds of breathing time i guess. >> the $8 million boat was destroyed. luckily all the sailors survived but the most tragic was the third crash. in may, the swedish team artemis

cap sized and one of the sail oorgs died under the wreckage. >> there is a realization that you're leaving it on good terms in a sense there is the inherent risk that you might not walk back at the end of th at the en. >> but there's a thought that these both aren't tested and are unsafe. >> there wasn't much time between 2010 and 2013 to make the huge leap that they've attempted to make. boats were rushed on to the water. they are still developing them. >> cel kendall walker has covered the america's cup for over 20 years. he says russell overreached on this event. >> russell wanted to transform that into something exciting, for the x games generation and for anybody else. >> what's it like to see some of your efforts to moderrize your

sport greeted with criticism? >> if we were worried about criticism we wouldn't have done it. allowing the fun part of it, get rid of the stuffiness that was so much a part of the sport in the past. >> there has been other criticism as well. the other designs have been proven unaffordable. and many of the other teams couldn't compete financially and the race shrunk to just four teams. >> basically it cost $100 million. that's not everybody's price tag so it became like jeez there's only so many people who can afford this. the government of new zealand is funding their boat. i can't imagine what kind of tough sell that is back home. >> that's meant that the cup and former mayor gavin newsom haven't been able to deliver what they promised. >> this could bring in close to

$twod million worth of activity. that's based on two teams competing. with four teams competing that number is less than half that amount. >> livingston says in the end apart from the cost of the boats and the risk,. >> they are going to go to some different kind of boat. >> but kutes is standing by his design. >> the concept is beginning to work and with changes to reduce cost i think this could be really successful in the future. >> on wednesday he and oracle came under fire again. it was determined that they added weight to the boat. the team was fined $250,000 and it will be penalized, he called the decision outrageous and told the associated press it was unfair to punish the whole team. >> do you think you will win?

>> i think we've got a great chance for winning. we have a great sailing team. they respond well under pressure. have shown they can win. i like our chances. >> whoever wins the cup, with this much money invested with so much danger and with such skepticism from its host city one thing is certain: we'll never see a race quite like this again.